Champagne Showers: Why It’s Embarrassing To Celebrate After An MLB Wild Card Game

Yankees manager Joe Girardi has seen World Series games in the new Yankee Stadium, but the intensity of the fans during Tuesday night’s American League Wild Card game may have trumped the atmosphere of the World Series.

This year’s installment of the Wild Card game never lacked excitement. Right from the start, the offenses began to make Yankee Stadium look like a little league field as Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosario both hit home runs to force out Yankees’ starter Luis Severino. The Yankees struck back in the home half of the first inning with three runs on a Didi Gregorius homer which forced Erving Sanatana out of the game for the Twins.

“We got the fans and everybody right back in the game, and from there, we kept it going,” Gregorius said. “That just shows how good we are as a team. It’s amazing how we feed off each other. It’s a team that never gives up.”

A total of five home runs were hit in this ball game, including one by rookie sensation Aaron Judge who became the third Yankees rookie to hit a home run in his postseason debut.

The Yankees were able to pull away from the Cinderella Twins in an 8-4 victory to advance to the ALDS to take on the Indians. Any postseason win – especially in the Wild Card game – constitutes some form of celebration.

But definitely NOT a champagne shower.

This is just foolish for these guys to douse each other in champagne because you a won a single playoff game. There is a long uphill battle before you should reach any celebration like that.

It is OK to celebrate with champagne after the division series and the championship series because those are meaningful postseason series. But the Wild Card game, despite all the hype around it, is not worth that level of partying afterward.

These Wild Card games are meant to add another exciting level to the postseason, and baseball got that one right when they added these games in 2012. But if you think about it, this game celebrates teams that weren’t good enough to win their divisions. Essentially they are the best of the worst.

Handing out a trophy for winning this game is like giving a participation medal. The team was already technically in the playoff hunt, so why is there a need to get another pat on the back?

It’s dumb because the Yankees already celebrated getting into the postseason already when they clinched a Wild Card spot during the regular season. This Wild Card game, no matter what team you are, should be considered business as usual.

You can’t even blame the players for this celebration because it’s not like they’re going to leave those champagne and beer bottles sitting there to go bad. That would be as wasteful as dumping it on each other…oh wait.

Old school managers of yesterday are probably turning over in their graves watching these guys celebrate one single victory.

This article is not meant to bash the Wild Card games, it’s one of the smartest concepts Major League Baseball has come up with. It just seems pointless for players to shower each other with champagne afterward.